Okay, so who participated in Free Comic Book Day yesterday? What freebies did you snag and which ones did you like?

Shigeru Mizuki's Showa: A History of Japan (Drawn & Quarterly)- This was pretty solid; I liked the juxtaposition between the cartoony and realistic drawings. Its' stylistically different from typical manga, so I liked that.

Wayward Sons/ Tesla (Red Giant)- I did not get into Tesla, but I Wayward Sons seems like a fun supernatural with appealing art.

Darchon/ Shadow Children (Red Giant)- I thoroughly disliked Darchon. The pacing was choppy, nothing made sense, and I didn't get into the characters. The cover was cool, though. On the other hand, I wasn't expecting much from Shadow Children but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I liked the art style, the imaginative world, and I want to further know the characters. Especially the male lead. Normally, I find the female characters more interesting than the males, but in Shadow Children, the boy was the more intriguing character.

Duel Identity/ Pandora's Blogs (Red Giant)- Duel Identity had a cool premise what with a superheroine (Andromeda) playing double agent as the super assassin Artemis. It definitely has a classic superhero vibe and seems like it could be a lot of fun. Pandora's Blogs, though, had a promising cover but the pacing was choppy and sometimes sloppy, and I had to suspend my disbelief more consciously than usual. I also felt like it was trying too hard to be "hip" and just ended up being kinda lame. Plus points for an ethnic protagonist, though.

Grimm Fairy Tales Age of Darkness with previews of Dark Queen and Robyn Hood one-shots (Zenescope)- Anthony Spay, cover artist, was at the comic shop I procured this one at so I had him autograph it. It was an enjoyable read, and I especially liked the varied use of fonts for peoples' dialogue. The one page Dark Queen preview did nothing for me, but I dug the 2-page Robyn Hood preview.

Zombie Tramp/ Ehmm Theory/ Dry Spell preview (Action Lab: Danger Zone)- I picked this one up on a whim because, well, Zombie Tramp. Seriously, how could I not? I probably had the most fun reading Zombie Tramp, out of all my freebies. Sure, it's mindlessly fun, fanservicey schlock, but it's well-done fanservicey schlock with a wide variety of cool art styles employed throughout its duration. Sadly, I didn't like Ehmm Theory. The blank backgrounds did nothing for me and the comic as a whole made no sense. The 3-page Dry Spell preview was cool, though, and I want to read more.

So basically, the Free Comic Book Day winners for me are Zombie Tramp, Dry Spell, and Shadow Children.

Necroing this to mention that A) I just read Locke and Key and it's absolutely top shelfand B) I finally ponied up the 350 clams to buy the semi-complete (minus the art books) set of The Absolute Sandman. Cannot wait to revisit it.

I've been really getting into the comic Hexed by Michael Nelson (writer) and Emma Rios (art) from BOOM! Studios. The art is incredible and I'm digging the story and characters. It's nothing hyper-intellectual or anything, but it did have unfamiliar words and phrases that had me reaching for a dictionary. I LOVE that! I now want to read Fall of Cthulhu to get the real backstory behind Luci(fer), Val Brisendine, The Harlot, everyone.